Our identities are complex and multifaceted. They are constantly evolving and being influenced by external factors. So, it makes perfect sense that this would also be the case for online identity. If we can even call it that in this technological age, a time where we are constantly online and we never really log out or turn off our computers. Perhaps our online identity is just simply, our identity, full stop. But where does the power lie? With us, the creator of our online selves? Or do our curated online identities influence and inform who we are too?
When interacting online we reveal our identities ‘on different sites with the expectation [that] different audiences [require] different norms’ (Cinque,T 2015, pp.79). While I agree wholeheartedly with this statement, I am skeptical of the notion that this means we procure false identities when representing ourselves online. It is far more likely that we allow different facets of our diverse selves to be showcased according to the customs and intended use of a particular platform. The user names we adopt, the carefully selected profile photos, and the small two line biographies we all write are always strategically chosen to suit the platform’s standard and are indicative of our aims behind using that digital platform.
Using myself as a case study, this can be seen very clearly when flipping through a variety of the social media platforms that I utilise. My Instagram account username is ‘lipsticks_make_me_blush’. It is a username that has no similarities to my birth name but upon closer readings of it, is highly insightful as to who I am as a person on Instagram. I am a member of the LGBT community, and fall heavily into the ‘lipstick’ sub stereotype within it, and am also very passionate about makeup and cosmetics. It is a play on words that gives a brief mention to two aspects of my identity that I deem important, and hints at the content I post on my Instagram account. I use this platform only in my personal life to post about happenings and activities I do throughout my week. However, the content I post is not always a true representation of my everyday life. I post only when I’m doing something interesting or important. Everything from the image, to the captions and hashtags, are carefully curated and edited multiple times to showcase myself at my most interesting, entertaining, and attractive self. Polletti and Rak wrote that ‘Identity is the expression of consciousness that is continuous over time, but identity is also a product’ (Poletti, A and Rak, J 2014, pp. 8), a product that us, as individuals and creators, make all the branding and marketing decisions for. I could say I use the Instagram casually, but in reality that is certainly not the case. My Identity and self expression on the platform are true and honest, but they only reveal particular aspects of myself that I choose.
As much as I believe that I control my online persona and the representation of myself that I put out, I also strongly agree that my online identity has a significant amount of power over who I am offline and my own personal development. ‘Identity formation is undoubtedly impacted by social media experiences’ (Newman, M 2015, pp 222), and the representations of ourselves we put online usually are slowly realised and become more significant to our identity. Social media is often a method we choose to utilise for self discovery and self growth; where we can track our progress and success, or lack thereof. The online world, with its options of pseudonymity, seems to offer the perfect place for experimentation with our identity; we are able to express and develop different aspects of our identity with the false belief that it is separate from ourselves. However, this is a huge misconception. People will generally discover that as their pseudonymous persona grows it cements itself as one of the many facets of their identity.
This is something that I have found to be very true through personal experience. Throughout the last six months of my university course, I have been required to write blog posts and utilise a Twitter account for assessment. Two things that I had previously not associated myself with in a very firm way. Though here I am months after the completion of those units, and I have moved my blog posts from the unit blog forum to a public access blog provider, and I have continued to write regularly in a professional manner about media and public relations topics. I now check my Twitter feed each morning, and at several points during my days, and I have also begun to not just retweet or share interesting articles, but get involved. I have shared my own images and promote my blogs. I reply to other people’s tweets and respond to polls. Using Twitter and writing blogs because I have had to, have in effect, changed who I am. I am now a regular blogger and a daily user of Twitter.
But even beyond this shift in my identity, is how I have strategically represented myself on these platforms and how these calculated choices have had real influence over my identity. I started my public blog and twitter with the hopes of improving my professional skills, expanding my knowledge, and beginning to build a credible professional identity. To evolve from a nervous student, to an employable and practiced PRP was my goal, and surely I am improving. My own perception of myself, and hence my identity, is more professional, educated, and experienced than it was prior to my exposure to blogging and Twitter. I have become more motivated and inspired to continue to grow my online persona beyond university units. Through establishing a professional online identity I have increasingly begun to see myself as this online persona and view it as another facet of my identity.
References:
Cinque,T 2015, Changing Media Landscapes: Visual Networking, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne, AU, pp 79
Poletti, A and Rak, J 2014, ‘Introduction: digital dialogues’, in Poletti, A and Rak, J, Identity Technologies: Constructing the Self Online, The University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, pp. 8.
Newman, M 2015,’ Image and Identity: Media literacy for young adult Instagram users’, in Visual Inquiry: Learning and Teaching Art, Intellect ltd, Bristol, UK, pp.222.
Further reading on online identity.
Broader Online Activity
In relation to the unit ALC203, I have become quite active in the unit discussions that occur across the online platforms. I have utilised Twitter well, by posting regularly and checking the #alc203 daily to keep up to date with the thread and to engage with my peers through likes and replies. I have followed numerous other students enrolled in the ALC203 or ALC703 and have enjoyed responding to their tweets. I have also began a WordPress for myself where I have written almost weekly blog posts about unit related topics. I have enjoyed writing these to further my own understanding of the unit and sharing them whit my peers via twitter. Please have a scroll through both my WordPress and my Twitter accounts.
Ellen Emary 